25 Days follows the Gray family one chapter per day leading up to Christmas. I did try to read this book Advent style, but ultimately gave in and read the remaining 50% in one sitting. 

Please look up content warnings from other reviewers before reading this book. It gets very dark and graphic. I was surprised the author did not include his own warnings in the book since he already had a “Dear Reader” section at the start.

The daily chapters follow a rotating narration between Adam, Beth, Abby (15), and Chloe (9). This format fit the story okay in the beginning where I wanted to know how each family member felt, but by the end it felt forced and took away from the story's flow. Sometimes key events happened in first person, other times in third person, and even sometimes off-page entirely. Instead of it feeling intentional, it felt like what the author was forced to use. This also caused the book to have odd pacing where their POV chapters had to both catch up on prior days plus move the story forward which gave an odd pacing to each chapter and the book as a whole.

The ending left me with more questions than answers, but not in a satisfying way.

I was disappointed by the lack of resolution for what happened, especially after I'd developed so many theories while reading the book.

The author's note on his website says this was done intentionally. 

Ultimately I felt the book's imposed structure and the author's narrative decisions led to more annoyance than intrigue upon completion. The characters were underdeveloped and their experiences chaotically written. 

Content Warnings:

Animal Cruelty, Blood, Vomit, Torture, Confinement, Violence against Children, Fire/Fire Injury, Gun Violence, Stalking, Death/Murder